ONE OR THE OTHER

Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram are the consensus top two players in the draft, meaning the Lakers are likely to pick whichever player the 76ers do not take with the top pick. A quick look at the two:

BEN SIMMONS

Age: 19

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

Ht./Wt.: 6-10, 240

Position: SF/PF

College: LSU (19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists as a freshman)

Scouting report: D'Angelo Russell's teammate at Montverde Academy in Florida, Simmons has generally been regarded as the best player in the draft. With power forward size, but point guard agility, he has often drawn the NBA's most favorable comparison: to LeBron James. However, attitude and commitment are reported issues with Simmons.

Scouting report: Athleticism is the key for Ingram, with his 7-foot-3 wingspan and leaping ability. He faces many of the same questions a younger Kevin Durant did nearly a decade ago. However, he shot 41 percent from 3 in college, and all teams are looking for big players who can shoot.

BILL ORAM

NBA DRAFT LOTTERY

1. Philadelphia

2. Lakers

3. Boston

4. Phoenix

5. Minnesota

6. New Orleans

7. Denver

8. Sacramento

9. Toronto

10. Milwaukee

11. Orlando

12. Utah

13. Phoenix

14. Chicago

NEW YORK – The poker face stayed the same as Mitch Kupchak weathered his seemingly endless anxieties.

The Lakers’ general manager looked that way as he sat on the dais at the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday, mindful the team could have lost a coveted draft pick. Kupchak looked that way once it became official the Lakers landed the No. 2 pick and avoided sending it to Philadelphia for the second consecutive year. And Kupchak looked that way afterward with reporters, speaking with the same stoic tone as he did when the Lakers finished the 2015-16 season with a 21-61 record.

“Don’t I look excited? It’s nerve-wracking,” Kupchak said as he barely provided a smile. “That adds to the drama that, at this stage in my life, is unnecessary.”

To deal with that drama, Kupchak entered the draft lottery assuming the Lakers would lose the pick as part of the ill-timed Steve Nash trade the Lakers made with Phoenix four years ago. The reasoning had more to do with preparing for contingency plans than feeling pessimistic.

After all, Kupchak credited the “lucky gods” after sitting on the dais wearing three lucky charms. One of them included Kupchak wearing a Lakers lapel pin his 20-year-old son, Maxwell, found earlier this week. As Kupchak shared, “Whenever it called for us to win a game or something that was meaningful, I’d pull out the pin.”

The Lakers then accomplished something statistically far more improbable than securing a playoff victory that preceded one of their 16 NBA championships.

The Lakers might have had a 55.82 percent chance of landing a top-three pick after ending last season with the second-worst NBA record and their worst in franchise history. Yet, the Lakers only had a 12.6 percent chance of staying at No. 2.

According to USC math professor Ken Alexander, there marked only a 1.9 percent chance the top three picks would fall to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Lakers and the Boston Celtics in that order. But it happened.

“We’re in a much better situation than we were a year ago,” Kupchak said. “To have the season like we had and not have something to show for it is not the way we wanted it to go.”

Kupchak still argued, “I don’t think it would have set us back a lot” had the Lakers left here without a lottery pick. Kupchak called D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Anthony Brown “good players” and “a good core of young players to build around.” The Lakers also have a No. 32 draft selection. And the Lakers will have up to $60 million of salary cap space to spend on free agents beginning on July 1.

“We don’t think we can continue to lose at this pace,” Kupchak said. “At some point, we have to make a dramatic jump or at least show dramatic improvement.”

Whether that happens could depend on who the Lakers draft with their No. 2 pick.

“Laker fans all over should be happy with the No. 2 pick because the Lakers will get another really good player,” Lakers legend Magic Johnson tweeted. “It looks like it will be either (Ben) Simmons or (Brandon) Ingram.”

Both the LSU forward (Simmons) and the Duke forward (Ingram) are considered college basketball’s best players. Simmons has sparked praise for his playmaking despite lacking an outside shot. Ingram seems intriguing as a defender and scorer, though he is listed as weighing only 190 pounds. Kupchak also conceded “we need help in the frontcourt.”

Yet, the Lakers insisted their choice will not automatically be Simmons or Ingram.

“I would’ve been very happy getting a top-three pick,” Kupchak said. “There’s a lot of talk about how there might be separation at some point. But I’ve always felt if you have a top-three pick, that’s a heck of an asset. No matter what, you’ll get a heck of a player.”

Many presumed last year the Lakers would choose either Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor after the Minnesota Timberwolves received first dibs. Instead, the Lakers chose Russell.

“Our scouts do a great job,” Kupchak said. “They’ve always been diligent and have always worked hard. They’ve done a great job every year. I trust their ability to conduct a draft and make the decisions.”

One of those decisions could entail trading the pick. Kupchak conceded last week that “nobody’s off limits.” Yet, Kupchak strongly dismissed the Lakers decided beforehand they would deal their pick.

“We haven’t gone through the different scenarios as whether or not we’d keep the pick or trade the pick,” Kupchak said. “That’s not something we have discussed. It’s hard to have those discussions when you don’t have the pick.”

Since the Lakers have the pick, Kupchak’s schedule will become consumed with organizing workouts. The Lakers already have hosted some for players they would consider with the No. 32 selection. Kupchak sounded skeptical, though, that the Lakers would host workouts for No. 2 prospects fairly soon. The NBA draft does not take place until June 23.

“We work with the representatives and understand this is something they need to wade through and make sure they get right,” Kupchak said. “A lot of the kids want to make sure they’re in great shape, too. They might not be. If they might not be, it might delay things another week or so.”

Before that happens, Kupchak hardly sounded interested in basking in any victory. He dismissed whether he would pop open a champagne bottle as he did last year at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo.

“I was by myself in my office,” Kupchak said. “That’s where I really preferred to be this year. But I think we ran out of options.”

Kupchak then declared his attendance “was a process of elimination” despite spending the past 29 years as a Lakers executive. Lakers president Jeanie Buss represented the Lakers in the lottery in 2005. Former Lakers player James Worthy attended in 2014. Former Lakers coach Byron Scott followed suit last year.

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